CFD Analysis of Simultaneous Removal of Copper (II) and Zinc from Aqueous Solution Using a Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactor

The current study is a new method for liquid–liquid extraction of copper (II) and zinc that was carried out using an efficient solvent called trifluoroacetylacetone in a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC). To analyze the extraction process and understand its underlying mechanisms, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was employed. The extraction was performed in three domains by coupling the mass and momentum equation to express the solute transport from the tube side to the shell side through the membrane in a hollow fiber membrane contactor. The finite element approach simulates the governing equation and validates the results. This work aims to obtain the distribution of copper (II) and zinc by performing a simulation. The effect of some crucial parameters was investigated. The results illustrate that the extraction efficiency increases by increasing the partition coefficient and decreasing the flow rate on the tube side. Also, the temperature significantly affects extraction, and by enhancing the temperature from 298 to 313 K, the efficiency increases by 12% for copper (II) and 6.6% for zinc. Furthermore, the membrane porosity was found to be another influential parameter. By increasing the membrane porosity of 25% to 90%, the efficiency increases to 95% for copper (II) and 98% for zinc.